Desperately need some screening advice

[cakeycakeface]

We've just lost a planning decision that went to committee. We now face having two very large double storey buildings being built parallel and directly in front of us. All our public rooms face into them as well as one bedroom. Our home is an old bungalow on an elevated position which means their top floor windows and glazed fronts will have views into our home. We know this because the neighbour already has these views.

We need screening, and really fast, and I expect it will be costly. We don't want a leylandi (sp?) hedge, because we're going to have to look at this everyday and I'm not a fan of them. A mixture of trees and shrubs and hedging. I'm going to have to let go my dream of bedding borders!

We'd need to try plant immediately for a height that can screen the windows. It's going to be hard, these buildings are massive and very ugly.

And yes, we're also thinking of moving, but we'd have to screen anyway to sell the house.

I would really appreciate some advice. I'm feeling very low about it and need to try focus forwards.

Ooh, see someone suggested viburnum, yes I like those too, very pretty!

Shove, that's exactly it. I do feel I'm being forced to do something against my will, and also in a timeframe I'm not entirely comfortable with. (It feels rushed!) I've been trying to remind myself why we bought the house.

We wanted a large garden, and this is about a 1 acre plot wrapped around the house (but only lawn). It is very very unfortunate that ALL the windows face this section of the garden, and that's what we need to deal with. HOWEVER, my DCs will be oblivious to the issues I am struggling with, and they will still have lots of outdoor space to grow up and play in. The house is also near good schools, and an amazing rural community.

If we fail to screen properly however, then I expect I will never be fully happy living here and I don't think I will ever get used to people looking in. So we will move, but take our time, and cross that bridge when we get to it. And try to stay in the area. One thing at a time.

We've been rushed because we needed to grab the topsoil from the development to level our garden. This is currently in a massive pile on our lawn. The landscape guy thinks we've saved about £2000 just there.

The small digger is here today to dig the trench for the retaining wall, the foundations go in on Monday and the wall built before the end of next week. The fence is already down.

The landscaper's advice is to backfill to level the garden, and then, just inside the fence, undulate the ground (on our side) creating three bunds, the positions to correlate with the new houses. Then we'll plant on those. He said that gives even extra height and will be more interesting as well, rather than planting on the flat. It means I sacrifice more lawn area but DH seems pleased with the idea and I'm tired of arguing about it so I'm going with it. I hope I don't regret it.

Planting ... he has suggested clusters of plants concentrated on the bunds - not necessarily a straight line hedge but in principle that's what it will be, a hedge. He will do the planting and install a watering system as well to give them the best chance of establishing.

He is recommending a mixture of Beech, Hornbeam, Thuja, Chamaecyparis, and Laurel (6 of each plants). He suggested with the Chamaecyparis that we chose plants with different colours.

So this is the backbone. He said we should consider this a backdrop, and in front of it on the lower level plant specimen trees or shrubs.

There is a part of me that thinks this approach might create a sense of depth to the border, but, because I can't really envisage it, I'm worried it might look like the type of planting you see around shopping parking areas!!

I need to get an idea of what these plants look like, and then look at suggestions here as well to see if we should swap some up.

But, how does this sound as a starting point. What would you do differently?

Many thanks to everyone for the support so far.

Your landscaper is marvellously clever! I LOVE the idea of small hills with planting on them. It will be like green waves. I would plant them with some trees with leaves that rustle and sound like the sea!! If they are in lawn, I might also consider leaving 'ripples' of the lawn longer to reinforce the effect, and planting bulbs in wave-like forms.

I stole that idea- shamelessly- from one of my favourite gardens is Little Sparta, in the Pentland Hills, where ash is used for its wonderful sound and association with the sea. It's less a garden, really, than one giant, intricate, amazing, genius sculpture - it was made over decades by the poet Ian Hamilton Findlay. He makes use of undulations and artificial ground-level changes in the most incredible and poetic way. It's something that is so often neglected in gardens, yet there is no reason it can't be more beautiful, creative and original than boring, traditional patterns.

I wouldn't see this as a compromise, but as a GENIUS PLAN that is leading you down a path that will push you to be more artistic than you previously thought you could be! It's a cliche, but constraints really can help you to be creative. Spend some time thinking of associations you and your family have with undulating things - you can personalise this to make it meaningful to you.

FINLAY not Findlay, sorry!

Well, shove, the one thing I haven't mentioned is that these two awful houses, of boring ubiquitous peri-urban estate design, will also be replacing our panoramic view of .... The Pentlands!

What's especially galling is that these houses could have shared this view at single storey. But that wouldn't permit them to accommodate the three dressing rooms, and two living rooms, etc etc that are apparently essential to modern living.

So I think I need to pay your favourite garden a visit!

One of the ideas behind the bunds is that we have the lower levels between the gaps in the houses to try keep some view. However, I suspect that the houses are so overbearing they will always interrupt it.

We were going to make use of the digger today to dig a bed for us somewhere else, but I felt I was rushing things too much.

I wanted a garden that was more than borders around a flat lawn, IYKWIM. But a space the kids could explore running through paths and spaces. But I have no experience of working on this scale so a bit daunted by it. And my plant knowledge is poor, but I want to learn. I think I need to print out to scale drawings of the house deeds and do some drawing and thinking!

Well, shove, the one thing I haven't mentioned is that these two awful houses, of boring ubiquitous peri-urban estate design, will also be replacing our panoramic view of .... The Pentlands!

What's especially galling is that these houses could have shared this view at single storey. But that wouldn't permit them to accommodate the three dressing rooms, and two living rooms, etc etc that are apparently essential to modern living.

So I think I need to pay your favourite garden a visit!

One of the ideas behind the bunds is that we have the lower levels between the gaps in the houses to try keep some view. However, I suspect that the houses are so overbearing they will always interrupt it.

We were going to make use of the digger today to dig a bed for us somewhere else, but I felt I was rushing things too much.

I wanted a garden that was more than borders around a flat lawn, IYKWIM. But a space the kids could explore running through paths and spaces. But I have no experience of working on this scale so a bit daunted by it. And my plant knowledge is poor, but I want to learn. I think I need to print out to scale drawings of the house deeds and do some drawing and thinking!

Wow, well it's a beautiful part of the world to be in, so I can doubly see why you're completely hacked off with this decision. And yes, absolutely, do go and see Little Sparta asap, I think it might be useful for you in terms of thinking how you could maybe use this as a chance to bring content and idea as well as beauty into your garden! It revolutionized my whole take on landscaping and gardening. What I do is content-free nonsense in comparison! I'm trying to be more thoughtful.

Another thing that might be useful for inspiration is Capability Brown. I don't know if you can still catch the series on the stately home where a Duchess was reviving a Brown landscape. It was quite good for showing the way that he used trees to 'frame' a prospect quite selectively and thus to generate a new sense of landscape beauty. Perhaps you could adopt a similar approach on a smaller and denser scale, giving 'prospects' to the countryside around you while screening out the banality of the new housing?

Kids will LOVE hillocks to climb, hide behind, and trees to climb! There's nothing better when you're little than scrambling in and around trees!

I agree with everything holly said ( I refuse to call her shove )

This is a great plan and will give you an interesting garden and shelter as well as screening. I'm guessing it's quite windy where you live ?

A flat lawn with borders around it is SO last century and you can do some inetereting things for the children too.

Defo go with the specimen trees. You'll need a digger for the holes and a tractor to lift then in but up will be worth it .

Do you live near Edinburgh ? If so, go to the botanics and look at the shelter belt they use to screen the gardens from the busy road . You'll see it's a mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees and various shrubs.

Yes, holly is much nicer !

We live close enough to make a trip in, so yes, I'll do that. Maybe this weekend if the weather improves.

I need to measure out the space we have to give a better sense of what we have to play with. It's the narrowest section of our garden as well. Landscaper seems to think less lawn is less to mow but I don't want to feel too squashed in, if that makes sense. The planting area will be quite narrow and I'm not sure how big these bunds can be (or if we have enough soul). A scale sketch might help!

Posting on here has really helped give me a bit of a focus so thank you all very much!

We have a much bigger sweep of lawn to the side that the garage is against. We hope to one day convert that to a room so we can have space away from these houses. (But that will be when we win the lottery!)

shove or holly are fine with me!!

It IS hard to imagine landscaping. Sometimes I mark a place on the floor with a magazine, stand on it and draw on the window with a felt pen. I can then move the drawing about to experiment with different layouts. It is AMAZING what a difference the right placement can make.

I completely understand your fear about feeling enclosed. When I was planning my garden, DH wanted to introduce taller things nearer the house, and 'frame' the view down. I thought this would close the garden off and make it feel like it was turning its back on us. So I ignored his advice . However, a viburnum that has just shot up in the wrong place - which has turned out to be the right place - has changed my mind. I'm coming round to the idea that he was right and that actually, even in my small suburban garden, it's possible to 'frame' the view carefully to draw the eye to what you want it to see, and away from what you don't.

I live quite a way up a hill. My view from my dining room looks out to some big warehouse units. These used to be quite low, but one of them went on fire a while ago, so new ones are going up. They're much higher and more prominent and the signage is going to be lit, whereas previously it wasn't. It's new so I'm still adjusting, but my feeling is that it's now too dominant and I need to do something to draw the eye away. I can't screen directly at the back of the garden because putting a tree there would entangle it with an existing and very old apple in the garden, so I'm thinking of putting something quite close to the house, that will just provide a bit of cover.

I think I'm going to use a white birch - betula jacquemontii - or, more probably, a group of three quite close planted. I LOVE these. They would be well worth considering for your bunts too - they are SO beautiful.

I'm going to reveal my total ignorance now, but what is the difference between 'white birch' and 'silver birch'. I've done a quick google for images and can't tell. Is it the bark? I ask because I keep spotting trees that have an almost ethereal foliage, light bark, and when the leaves flutter it's almost as if they are catching light like a mirror. I always have to ask DH what they are (because my memory is utterly rubbish) and he says 'silver birch'.

I'm wondering if I'm sometimes seeing the birch you're talking about...?

I absolutely love them. In fact, my favourite tree, I'd say. I would love them in the garden and although deciduous (which is why they're not top of the list) maybe the bark will look lovely if it has a conifer-type hedgy thing behind it.

And you know... I think massive courage is in order from me. The gardens I am drawn to in magazines are those that are mostly borders and shrubs with pockets of lawn. With places you can explore and hide in and surprises around corners. To do this I'd have to be very bold and be prepared to carve up the large lawn DH thinks would be good for football!

Our previous home was tiny, but I loved it. We had a steeply sloping garden that we terraced down dividing it into seven areas with stone steps meandering through. When we moved here I asked DD if she loved the new garden, because she was running freely everywhere, instead of falling down stairs. And she (at age 3) told me she missed the other house because 'it had lots of little gardens' - so I think she has the same fantasy ideas I have!

DH is telling me he thinks I like whitebeam.

I was looking through these screening pics and thought of you.
www.majestictrees.co.uk/garden-screening-trees/privacy-a-guide-to-evergreen-screening-trees.html

White birch is just my amateur name for it!!

Silver birch, the native tree you see in the wild is betula pendula. It has white bark, but it's scored with black (increasingly so with age).

Betula utilis is the West Himalayan birch (utilis because the bark was used for loads of things, including writing). Some of the varieties, notable jacquemontii, have startlingly pale bark and fewer black markings than the silver birch we know. They also have denser canopies, which would suit your purpose. They look absolutely amazing when planted in groups (see picture). I like them straight-stemmed, but they also look good when made to grow multi-stemmed. You really notice them when you see them, so my guess is that these are what you've seen.

It's personal taste, but I really dislike washing machine gardens (where borders are peripheral with acres of lawn in the middle) and I LOVE carved up gardens. If I had your utterly enviable amount of space to play with, I'd be making a garden that told a story, that you had to wander through and that you couldn't see all at once. GO FOR IT!

expanding - those transformations are brilliant! How inspiring.

Expanding that is helpful. One of them has standards dotted in. I hadn't thought of that.

(And I just got side-tracked by magnolia grandiflora - gosh it's pretty, but so expensive at larger sizes).

I'm here to save you money

By telling you that's you can't have a magnolia grandiflora in your east coast garden in Scotland / north of England

Sorry

There are several betulas with white bark and they are very popular so you will be able to get a big one easily .or a multi stemmed one . They have a beautiful form throughout the year - important as it will be bare for half the year .

White beam is Sorbus aria lutea - Google it

There are lots of different sorbus , they have flowers , berries and autumn colour. And they are very hardy even in the cold east

Actually, whew, kristina that's a relief! I had a magnolia stellata in my previous garden that thrived (same altitude, windier and further east). Are they made of tougher stuff?

Magnolia grandiflora come from the SE USA. They are evergreen and don't like cold winds . Also they take 12 years to flower .

M. Stellata is decidous and much hardier - I have one in my very exposed garden

I'm in Cornwall right now and there are lots of wonderful magnolias out

That's useful to know re Magnolia!

The foundations for the retaining wall are now in place. And building begins tomorrow. I'm suddenly feeling incredibly nervous!

Hooray! It'll be brilliant. This is you starting to reclaim your space ! And while it's not the direction you originally envisaged, it's going to be beautiful.

I think it's good that you are engaged enough with this whole thing to be nervous, both for you and for the garden. It means the garden will be a part of you and your family. And while you might feel a bit shaky right now, it is part of a kind of therapeutic process of being defiant and resilient in the face of a shit spatial decision, rather than a passive victim of something done to you. And that always deserves a BIG round of applause (and cake).

Great post Holly